Man who told court of abuse by friar found dead
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Just over a year ago in a Hollidaysburg courtroom, Corey Leech took the stand and, in a poised and confident voice, testified in excruciating detail how a Franciscan friar began sexually abusing him when he was in his early teens.
Mr. Leech gave voice to scores of victims of the late Stephen Baker in his testimony, which took place in the pretrial hearing of three Franciscan supervisors who face criminal charges for allegedly failing to protect children from the abusive friar.
Mr. Leech told of Baker abusing him on the athletic training table at Bishop McCort Catholic
took his own life.
And one of Baker’s victims at an Ohio high school took his life in 2003, his mother said while attending pretrial hearings for the Franciscans last year.
“It doesn’t end, does it?” Mr. Hoatson said. But he said survivors can and do thrive.
“There is hope for recovery, and the key is, to stay in therapy,” he said. “Psychotherapy is the key, and medicine is necessary. As I tell people, I’m in my 38th year of therapy as a result of child sexual abuse. That basically has kept me alive. And I think it keeps a lot of other people alive.”
Baker himself committed suicide in January 2013 at the Hollidaysburg monastery when the enormity of his abuse was becoming publicly known. Scores of victims have reached financial settlements with the province and the dioceses where Baker worked. Baker did not face criminal charges.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for June 14 for the three Franciscan priests, who each face charges of conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children. The three are the Very Revs. Giles Schinelli, Robert J. D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli. State prosecutors allege they knew Brother Baker posed a risk of abusing children but assigned him to schools and other settings where he could get access to minors. The three have pleaded innocent.
Mr. Leech was born March 29, 1986, the thirdoldest of 10 boys. He was an avid sports fan and athlete who played football, basketball and baseball at Bishop McCort.
Tragically, according to the grand jury report, this athleticism made him vulnerable to Brother Baker’s exploitation.
According to the grand jury report, Baker molested more than 100 youths, many at Bishop McCort, where between 1992 and 2000 he was a religion teacher and self-styled athletic trainer.
The friar groped the students’ genitals and digitally penetrated them anally, often under the guise of massaging or helping them stretch.
Even after his Franciscan superiors transferred him out of Bishop McCort because of an abuse allegation, he continued to have access to youths there and in other settings, the grand jury said.
Mr. Leech testified last year that Baker’s practices were commonly known among athletes.
Mr. Leech testified that Brother Baker exploited his role as a “friend of the family” who would take him out to eat and on other trips.
The inappropriate sexual contact began within a year of meeting him, he said.
Asked how many times Baker abused him, he testified: “Too many times.”
Even after suffering the trauma, Mr. Leech graduated magna cum laude from the nursing program at Mount Aloysius College, where he also played baseball.
He worked in the intensive care nursery of Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center and also as a traveling nurse in San Diego. He told family he was thrilled to care for prematurely born babies who were “smaller than his hand.”
But the years of abuse “destroyed Corey’s faith,” his obituary said. “The house of God no longer provided any solace for Corey, so he sought peace the only way he could, through substance abuse. Corey will be remembered by his family and friends as the caring, bright and fun-loving young man whose future was stolen from him by those he trusted the most.”
He is survived by his parents, Bernard and Cynthia Leech; nine brothers; and numerous other relatives.
The funeral will be private.